Very sorry to hear about your mom and also about tom's bad luck.

Nick& Tom whats the time table +- for the Northeast adventure?

I haven't tuned in to all the planning, but it sounds like late summer. I hope to join the caravan, since it's been over 20 years since I was in Maine and NH. Never been to the Canadian Maritimes (unless Newfoundland counts).

Well, We said our goodbyes and started limping home. We made it to Omaha and gave up. We had been changing the oil every day. Today We had 2 inches of extra oil in 200 miles. We are heading home in the Jeep with the cats. The Barth is in good hands with the Biggest Cat Dealer I have ever seen. They have 16 Service bays just for trucks. Hope the news from them isn't catastrophic (sp). Will keep you all posted as the repairs proceed. I guess when we went to Alaska and back without changing a light blub Shit happens on the next trip.
I can tell you that the Cagles are a hoot to travel with. Can't wait for the Northeast trip. I'll post more when we get home. Tom and Nancy

Sounds like a bad injector or cracked fuel line to an injector leaking fuel.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadow man:
Sounds like a bad injector or cracked fuel line to an injector leaking fuel.

3208 Cats have external fuel lines going from the injector pump to a bulkhead fitting in the valve spring area of the head. From the bulkhead fitting it then runs to the injectors themselves.

Injector lines going to the bulkhead connection


Fuel lines from the bulkhead to the injectors.


clamps that hold the injectors down. Must take out rockers to access them.


Here is what it looks like after the injectors have been removed from the head.


These are what the new style injectors look like.


Usually it's not the injectors that go bad. It's normally, like Shadowman said, the fuel jumper line that cracks. These older style jumper lines were replaceable - normally however, you just replace the injectors with new lines from the bulkhead to the injectors. Some, even come as 1 piece now with the injector lines attached to the injectors from the factory.

Some come with just the injectors alone.


These are known as "Pencil Injectors"

Here is a different style of the 3208 cat injector.

Who are you tryin to kid Bill, that's not a CAT, it's White! Cats are yellow dude!

quote:

Originally posted by Moonbeam-Express:
Cats are yellow dude!

I don't paint the dang things...

Beautifully presented, Bill.

So the fuel jumper line cracks, dumps fuel on the head and runs into crankcase. this just an injector problem then? Sounds like fairly easy fix, a relief indeed.

Problem is bearing damage from the contaminated engine oil. IIRC my brother had a similar situation and he did indeed loose oil pressure and had to replace the rod bearings, I know he went round and round with the cat repair place about this.

With diesel fuel leaking into the oil from the injector area... you would run the engine with one of the valve covers off and see if one of the areas, in the head, look cleaner. Then you would check the other side next in the same fashion.

Diesel washing into the oil would show up as "Less Oily" around the injector or lines where it's leaking as it would tend to "Clean The Area" of oil.

This symptom is not exclusive to an injector line leaking.

You see, there is also a fuel transfer pump and an injector pump. Either of these could be seeping the fuel past the seals and into the oil pan because they are internally driven. However, if this was the case it "Should" show up as an external leak from the weep holes. However, sometimes these get plugged up.

Just changing injectors, without diagnosing, could become costly quick.

quote:

Problem is bearing damage from the contaminated engine oil.

I don't know how much volume the fuel occupied. However with the frequent oil changes, coupled with the mostly-interstate travel, I'm speculating there will be no bearing damage. That said, a few crank and connrod caps should be pulled and plastigaged.

quote:

Just changing injectors, without diagnosing, could become costly quick.

"Ain't it the truth!" - The Cowardly Lion

With the injectors having been replaced, and the likelihood of a hole in a piston crown remote, I'm inclined to agree with Bill N Y that it's leaking through one of the pump seals.

There is "Technically" another way this could happen.

Let's say the turbo stopped spooling and you've lost your ability to boost the air psi in the intake. It could be something as simple as a charge air cooler line blowing out, an air compressor supply line breaking, a hoseclamp breaking, an intake gasket blowing out or a turbo failing...

What happens is now the engine doesn't produce enough air in the cylinder. Your fuel injector is pushing out more fuel than is warranted for the amount of air in the cylinder. This would lead to an overfueling condition.

Now, if each injector is firing more fuel into the cylinder than can be burned it'll "Seep Past" the rings of the piston and cause a "Diesel Washdown" condition.

Heck, even a plugged up airfilter can cause too much diesel fuel or low boost psi in the charged air part of the intake/piston.

Another thing would be a restricted return line for the fuel injector pump or even a failing injector pump.

Too much fuel, not enough air, will wash down the cylinder walls and seep into the oilpan causing the oil level to rise.

But, this type of thing is usually long term, not something that happens within 400-500 miles.

Proper diagnosis is the only way to know for sure what is going on there.

I don't think Tom has an intercooler, and I think he would've noticed low boost. And the smoke was white.

On startup, white smoke is common, a combination of "cold smoke" and diesel fuel mist.

Maybe we should start a pool.